Competency hearing held for suspect in murder, domestic

December 13, 2012

LISBON - A brief competency hearing was held in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court for Randy Ring, the Knox Township man accused of domestic violence against his girlfriend, the same woman he was later charged with killing in Stark County.

Ring's new defense attorney, Douglas King, acknowledged receipt of the psychological evaluation, which had been ordered in the case here. New dates were set in March for a pretrial and trial on the domestic violence charge.

Following the hearing, Ring was returned to Stark County, where the charge against him is murder. In Stark County his attorney has requested a second psychological evaluation following his first competency hearing held there on Dec. 4. No date has been set at this point in Stark County for a jury trial on the murder charge.

Ring, 58, Hartley Road, Alliance, made headlines in mid-July after he called a dispatcher in Alliance and calmly told her, "I just strangled my girlfriend."